Taking Note

A Century Foundation Group Blog

September 09, 2011

Capital punishment and the mentally disabled

by Harold Pollack

America has moved very far in embacing citizens who live with intellectual disabilities or with psychiatric disorders. One sign of progress has been the quiet change in our capital punishment system. The Supreme Court and most states have altered policies that have produced many unjust executions of individuals who committed serious crimes, but who were not fully responsible for their actions due to their disability.

Texas's appalling capital punishment system has been a real exception to this humane trend. My piece in the Nation provides more information. The first few paragraphs appear before the fold: